(NEW YORK) — Sean “Diddy” Combs arrived Thursday at the New Jersey federal prison where he will serve his four-year sentence for transportation for the purposes of prostitution, multiple sources told ABC News.
Combs was transferred this morning from MDC-Brooklyn to FCI Fort Dix, the facility his legal team requested because it offers a special drug treatment problem that, if completed successfully, could knock time off his sentence.
Combs is not being housed in the prison’s general population but in the special drug program unit, the sources said.
Meanwhile, Combs is asking a federal appeals court to expedite his appeal of his conviction on two prostitution-related charges, arguing he could finish his prison sentence before his appeal is heard on a normal timetable.
Combs is appealing his conviction and his sentence.
“An expedited briefing and argument schedule is critical to ensure that Mr. Combs’s appeal of his sentence does not become moot while the appeal is pending,” defense attorney Alexandra Shapiro said in a new filing.
She said Combs has already served approximately 14 months of his 50-month sentence, and it is unclear how much additional time he will ultimately serve due to his potential eligibility for reductions.
Earlier this week, the Bureau of Prisons posted what the agency believes to be Combs’ release date from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, which is set for May 8, 2028 — although it can change.
Combs was convicted of two counts of transportation for the purposes of prostitution after an eight-week trial in July. The jury acquitted Combs of more serious sex trafficking and racketeering charges he faced.
In his appeal, Combs plans to argue to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that prosecutors misapplied the law.
“Sean’s appeal will challenge the unfair use of the Mann Act, an infamous statute with a sordid history, to prosecute him for sex with consenting adults,” Shapiro said.
He has said his counts of conviction should not apply because he had no financial motive for transporting male escorts. Instead he said he wanted to watch them have sex with his girlfriends.
Sunset at the Burning Man festival on Sunday, September 3, 2023. (Photo by Kathy Baird/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
(BLACK ROCK CITY, Nev.) — It’s been two months since a Burning Man attendee was found dead in a pool of blood at the annual event in Black Rock City, Nevada, and as officials continue to search for a suspect, law enforcement experts told ABC News the crime will “not be a quick solve.”
Vadim Kruglov, a 37-year-old from Russia who was described by his family as “talented, bright and inspiring,” was found dead at the event on Aug. 30 at approximately 9:14 p.m., the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office said in September.
As other attendees were celebrating the burning of the large wooden “man” that marks the end of the event, officials said a deputy was alerted by another participant that there was a man “lying in a pool of blood,” with officials “immediately” responding to the campsite.
An attendee at the event, who asked not to be named, told ABC News she was traveling back to her campsite that evening when she was rerouted by a large police presence nearby.
It wasn’t until after she left Burning Man on Sunday that she found out a homicide had occurred at the event.
“I felt so unprotected,” the participant, who said she was not interviewed by police at the scene, told ABC News.
The Pershing County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to requests from ABC News for comment on the status of the case.
“Burning Man Project is committed to the safety of our community and to supporting those working to bring justice in this tragic case,” event officials said in a press release in September.
While many unknowns remain surrounding Kruglov’s death, and the search for a suspect continues, ABC News contributor and former FBI special agent Richard Frankel said there are “several investigative steps” officials can take before ruling the homicide a “closed” or “cold” case.
Murder weapon could indicate suspect had relationship with victim: Former FBI agent
Three weeks after Kruglov’s murder, officials announced they found the knife allegedly used in the killing, a discovery Frankel said could shed light on the potential suspect’s motive or possibly provide DNA evidence.
When officials announced the discovery of the weapon, they said Kruglov’s death appeared to have been caused by a single stab wound, which ABC News contributor and retired FBI agent Brad Garrett said is a “personal” manner of killing and could indicate the suspect had a relationship with the victim.
“Using a knife on someone is highly personal. It’s one thing to be 10 feet away and shoot somebody. It’s another to literally have to be against them to kill them,” Garrett said.
However, Frankel said a possible motive will not be able to be determined until the medical examiner conducts a further investigation into the knife-entry wound, specifically the “way the entry went in, the way the knife was facing and the pressure put forward or backward as the knife was stabbed.”
Officials have not yet shared the medical examiner’s report with the public, nor have they stated when the report would be released.
Frankel also said it is possible the suspect and the victim had some kind of prior relationship, but also recognized the killing could have simply occurred “in the heat of the moment.”
“Being that it’s at Burning Man — a lot of alcohol and drugs — you just don’t know who the players are at that time and at that location, and it could be just somebody who lost it and stabbed the first person that you could see,” Frankel said.
There were 44 arrests at this year’s event, officials said, ranging from possession of a controlled substance and assault with a deadly weapon to domestic battery, sexual assault and burglary.
Investigators must take the suspect’s ‘life apart’
Another potential avenue to reveal more details about the suspect is to take a deeper look at Kruglov’s past, Garrett said.
“You really take his life apart,” Garrett said, encouraging investigators to learn about Kruglov’s connections — “if there was someone he complained about, someone he owed money to or someone he had gotten into a dispute with.”
Kruglov, originally from Russia, was described as “true hero of Burning Man” who “poured his soul” into the community, according to a GoFundMe created by loved ones that was shared on the event’s press release.
“Vadim poured his soul into our community: building camp, creating art, helping others and always sharing his kindness and energy,” his loved ones wrote on the GoFundMe. “His contributions will forever remain part of the Burn’s history.”
Kruglov was attending Burning Man for the first time, according to a statement from the event.
Garrett said the suspect has the potential to be have “some connection” to Kruglov’s life, even prior to his trip to Burning Man. But, those possibilities could only be confirmed by analyzing his past, looking through his social media and speaking to friends and family, he said.
‘At the mercy’ of the public
Due to the challenges involved in this investigation — including that there was “little to no cellphone coverage,” the crime scene was a temporary city in a remote area and there is no known surveillance footage of the crime — Garrett said officials are “at the mercy of other people giving you information.”
“You never want to be in a position where you’re at the mercy of other people giving you information, but unfortunately, this case may just lend itself to completing a thorough investigation — not getting anywhere as to who the suspect might be — and then you have to regularly get the case back in front of the public to potentially generate more leads,” Garrett said.
“Somebody’s going to have to keep this case alive to potentially solve it,” Garrett added.
But, despite the time that passes without a suspect in custody growing by the day, Garrett said that does not make the case less solvable.
“One phone call, one piece of evidence that directs them toward someone with some corroboration that they could well have been involved in this could lead to an arrest,” Garrett said.
Pink ribbon flag in support of breast cancer awareness. Brent Lewis/The Denver Post via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — When it comes to early detection, mammograms remain the only screening test proven to reduce deaths from breast cancer in average-risk women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
However, only about 75% of eligible U.S. women schedule regular screenings, according to a JAMA study published earlier this month.
Experts believe that misunderstandings about who needs screenings and how often may be part of the reason some women skip mammograms. Here are eight evidence-based facts about breast cancer screening to help set the record straight.
CLAIM: Only women with a family history need screening
Although some women with family history of breast cancer may need earlier or more frequent screenings, all women need regular screenings, doctors said.
“Only about five to 10% of breast cancers are hereditary,” Dr. Aparajita Spencer, a breast surgical oncologist at CHI Memorial in Chattanooga, Tennessee, told ABC News. “Most women with breast cancer do not have a family history.”
CLAIM: A lump is the earliest sign of breast cancer
Although a lump is one of the most common symptoms of breast cancer, it is not the only sign and can be missed when performing self-examination.
“The whole point of the mammogram is to pick up the earliest signs of a breast cancer, which are usually calcifications, not really a mass,” Dr. Preeti Subhedar, breast surgery chief at Hackensack Hospital in New Jersey, told ABC News.
“When people come in with a mammographically or image-detected breast cancer, usually it’s fairly small and outcomes are really good,” she added.
CLAIM: Breast size affects your cancer risk
Subhedar said that breast size has nothing to do with risk.
“An average-risk woman has a 12% lifetime risk of developing breast cancer,” she said.
Spencer added that breast size and breast density are often confused, but they’re not the same. A mammogram will read dense breasts as having a higher proportion of glandular and fibrous tissue compared to fatty tissue. Mammary glands typically produce milk while fibrous tissue forms the breast.
This can slightly raise cancer risk and make tumors harder to catch, which is why the U.S. Food and Drug Administration finalized a rule in 2024 requiring providers to inform women if their breast tissue is dense and may require additional follow-up screenings.
CLAIM: Younger women don’t need mammograms
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network recommends annual screening mammograms starting at age 40 for average-risk women.
For women with a strong family history of breast cancer or a known genetic mutation, the American Cancer Society recommends beginning annual screenings with both a mammogram and a breast MRI at age 30, or even earlier if a close relative was diagnosed at a young age.
CLAIM: A negative mammogram means you don’t have breast cancer
Experts said a mammogram does not mean a patient doesn’t have breast cancer but rather that breast cancer wasn’t found on that specific mammogram.
“Mammograms occasionally miss early-stage cancers,” noted Spencer. “There is always a chance that you have something that pops up between screenings. We can’t say 100%, which is why it’s really important to get those yearly screenings.”
CLAIM: Mammograms can cause cancer because of radiation
The benefit of early detection far outweighs the tiny risk from the small amount of radiation, experts said.
The total lifetime risk for radiation-induced breast cancer is still very low at one in 5,000 — compared to about one in every eight women who will develop breast cancer in their lifetime, and roughly one in 43 women who will die from it.
CLAIM: There are safe and effective alternatives to mammograms
“There’s no universal replacement for screening mammograms. That is why that is the gold standard,” Spencer said.
Mammograms are safe — even during pregnancy when needed, she added. Other diagnostic tools including, an MRI and an ultrasound, may be used to provide additional information, but they do not replace the mammogram.
CLAIM: A breast biopsy spreads breast cancer
Medical experts agree that breast biopsies are safe, and the benefit of getting an accurate diagnosis far outweighs the minimal risks.
“It is extremely, extremely important that we get a tissue biopsy when someone comes in with an abnormal mammogram because there’s a lot of biological information that we learn about a tumor from that biopsy,” Spencer said.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women after skin cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death, according to the American Cancer Society.
In 2024, more than 300,000 women were diagnosed with breast cancer, and about 40,000 died from the disease. Today, more than 3 million breast cancer survivors live in the U.S. — a powerful reminder of the importance of early detection, doctors said.
Allyson Heng, MD, is resident physician in neurology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.
A coyote walks along a wall and behind various bushes that separate homes from The Tracks at Brea Trail in Brea early on Saturday morning, September 21, 2024. Mark Rightmire/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images
(PORTLAND, Ore.) — A coyote attacked and chased a 9-year-old in Portland, Oregon, while the child was playing hide-and-seek in their own yard, with officials encouraging residents in the area to remain on alert, according to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The attack occurred last week in the Portland neighborhood of Alameda, where a 9-year-old and a 3-year-old were “playing hide-and-seek in their yard when a coyote approached the 9-year-old” and bit their foot, the fish and wildlife department said in a press release on Wednesday.
The 9-year-old, who was wearing socks at the time of the attack, was able to “shake their foot out of the sock and run away,” officials said.
The coyote then proceeded to chase the 9-year-old until the child’s father — who was on the front porch — began yelling at the animal, who then ran away, officials said.
The child was taken to a local hospital and was “treated for minor injuries,” officials said. The status of the child’s condition remains unclear as of Thursday.
A day after the attack, officials traveled to the scene to “conduct a site investigation” and informed residents via flyers and social media posts that a “concerning incident with a coyote had recently occurred,” the department of fish and wildlife said.
In the days following the attack, officials said they have “continued to monitor the area and talk to neighbors” and are working closely with local and federal authorities to “determine next steps for addressing the human safety situation.”
While coyotes are “not unusual” in this area of Portland — even during the day — officials strongly encouraged residents to “monitor young children playing outside” and to not provide food to coyotes, which is illegal in the state of Oregon.
Dave Keiter, a district wildlife biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, told ABC Portland affiliate KATU the attack was a “very unusual incident,” but feeding the animals can “make them spend more time around humans which can cause conflict both with people and with pets.”
“The vast majority of encounters with coyotes are entirely benign,” Keiter told KATU.
If someone does encounter a coyote, officials said to scare away the animal by yelling, using airhorns, banging pots and pans or throwing objects.
Officials encourage community members to “immediately report concerning encounters and aggressive behavior toward people or pet” to the department of fish and wildlife or call 911 in the event of an emergency.
A coyote walks along a wall and behind various bushes that separate homes from The Tracks at Brea Trail in Brea early on Saturday morning, September 21, 2024. Mark Rightmire/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images
(PORTLAND, Ore.) — A coyote attacked and chased a 9-year-old in Portland, Oregon, while the child was playing hide-and-seek in their own yard, with officials encouraging residents in the area to remain on alert, according to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The attack occurred last week in the Portland neighborhood of Alameda, where a 9-year-old and a 3-year-old were “playing hide-and-seek in their yard when a coyote approached the 9-year-old” and bit their foot, the fish and wildlife department said in a press release on Wednesday.
The 9-year-old, who was wearing socks at the time of the attack, was able to “shake their foot out of the sock and run away,” officials said.
The coyote then proceeded to chase the 9-year-old until the child’s father — who was on the front porch — began yelling at the animal, who then ran away, officials said.
The child was taken to a local hospital and was “treated for minor injuries,” officials said. The status of the child’s condition remains unclear as of Thursday.
A day after the attack, officials traveled to the scene to “conduct a site investigation” and informed residents via flyers and social media posts that a “concerning incident with a coyote had recently occurred,” the department of fish and wildlife said.
In the days following the attack, officials said they have “continued to monitor the area and talk to neighbors” and are working closely with local and federal authorities to “determine next steps for addressing the human safety situation.”
While coyotes are “not unusual” in this area of Portland — even during the day — officials strongly encouraged residents to “monitor young children playing outside” and to not provide food to coyotes, which is illegal in the state of Oregon.
Dave Keiter, a district wildlife biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, told ABC Portland affiliate KATU the attack was a “very unusual incident,” but feeding the animals can “make them spend more time around humans which can cause conflict both with people and with pets.”
“The vast majority of encounters with coyotes are entirely benign,” Keiter told KATU.
If someone does encounter a coyote, officials said to scare away the animal by yelling, using airhorns, banging pots and pans or throwing objects.
Officials encourage community members to “immediately report concerning encounters and aggressive behavior toward people or pet” to the department of fish and wildlife or call 911 in the event of an emergency.
An undated photo of 9-year-old murder victim Carol Ann Dougherty. Bucks County District Attorney’s office
(BUCKS COUNTY, Pa.) — A 9-year-old girl’s killer has been identified more than 60 years after she was raped and murdered in a Pennsylvania church, authorities announced.
On Oct. 22, 1962, Carol Ann Dougherty was on her way to the library when she was raped and strangled at St. Mark’s Roman Catholic Church in Bristol, the Bucks County District Attorney’s office said.
“We believe it may be the only rape and murder of a little girl in a church in the United States,” Bucks County DA Jennifer Schorn said at a news conference.
A grand jury investigation has now identified Carol Ann’s killer as William Schrader, who Schorn described as an “absolute predator.” Although Schrader died in 2002, he’s now “definitively linked” to the murder “through the combination of decades-old evidence and recent investigative developments,” the DA’s office announced in a statement on Wednesday.
In 1962, a witness reported seeing Schrader — who lived near the church — outside the church around the time of the murder, and police initially questioned him, the DA’s office said. Schrader failed a polygraph test and investigators determined he lied about his alibi, authorities said. After Schrader realized he was a suspect, he left Pennsylvania and moved to the South, Schorn said.
“Schrader’s life was marked by a pattern of violence and sexual violence, particularly against young, pre-pubescent, and adolescent females,” the DA’s office said in a statement. Investigators determined he “sexually abused nearly every female child he lived with or had access to,” prosecutors said.
A pubic hair collected from Schrader at the start of the investigation was tested in the 1990s, and it showed “significant similarities” to hair found in Carol Ann’s hand, officials said. There were 141 pubic hair samples tested during the decadeslong investigation, and “all other individuals were eliminated,” officials added.
A breakthrough in the case came last year when investigators interviewed Schrader’s stepson, who said Schrader “confessed to him on two separate occasions that he murdered a little girl in a Pennsylvania church,” the DA’s office said. Schrader allegedly told his stepson he lured Carol Ann inside, raped her and “had to kill the girl in Bristol to keep her from talking,” the DA’s office said.
Carol Ann’s murder “changed my family’s life forever,” her sister, Kay Dougherty, said at Wednesday’s news conference.
“Our family lived without answers and the uncertainty surrounding Carol’s death became a part of who we were,” she said through tears. “My parents both passed away without knowing on this earth who murdered their daughter. … After so many decades of unknowing, this finding finally brings closure and a truth to a wound that never healed.”
Stock image of police lights. Douglas Sacha/Getty Images
(SPARTANBURG, S.C.) — A former sheriff of Spartanburg, South Carolina, is expected to plead guilty Thursday morning to stealing money from his own police force and taking illicit drugs.
Chuck Wright previously signed a plea deal admitting to three criminal counts of conspiracy to commit theft concerning programs receiving federal funds, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and obtaining controlled substances through misrepresentation, according to court documents reviewed by ABC News.
Wright has been accused of stealing money from a benevolent fund intended for his officers facing financial difficulties and pocketed cash he said he would use to send an officer to Washington, D.C., to honor a deputy killed in the line of service, according to federal filings.
Attorneys for Wright did not immediately respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.
Two other former Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office employees pleaded guilty to charges associated with Wright.
Amos Durham, a former chaplain of the force, helped Wright steal more than $28,000 from the sheriff’s department, and Lawson Watson was paid by Wright as a deputy for four years for work he never did — totaling more than $200,000, investigators said in court documents against Durham and Watson.
Wright resigned earlier this year after working as a police officer for more than 20 years. Suspicion began to rise against him after a local paper discovered he had spent over $53,000 over six years on frivolous purchases that included dinners, fancy hotels, and subscriptions that included a keto diet program, according to the Post and Courier.
An excavator sits on the rubble after the East Wing of the White House was demolished on October 28, 2025 in Washington, DC. Alex Wong/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Days after the abrupt demolition of the East Wing of the White House, critics are questioning whether the Trump administration and contractors involved in razing the historic structure adhered to federal health and safety standards, including those governing the handling of hazardous materials like asbestos, a dangerous and potentially deadly substance widely used during the period of the East Wing’s original construction.
On Thursday, Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., penned a letter to executives at the firm responsible for the demolition seeking evidence that the company complied with regulations dictating the safe removal of asbestos and lead — or if, instead, they “cut corners” and “gambled with people’s health.”
“The demolition of a structure of the age and historic national significance of the East Wing demands the highest possible standards of care, not the lowest bid and a blind eye toward regulation,” Markey wrote to leaders of ACECO, a Maryland-based demolition contractor.
The senator’s overture comes days after the nation’s largest asbestos victims’ organization raised alarms about whether the White House may have deviated from accepted practices for handling these materials.
“Federal law requires comprehensive asbestos inspection, notification, and abatement before any demolition,” wrote the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) last week. “No publicly available information demonstrates that these statutory obligations have been fulfilled.”
A White House official would not say whether asbestos was found in the East Wing, but told ABC News that “a very extensive abatement and remediation assessment was followed, complying with all applicable federal standards.”
The official said that “any hazardous material abatement was done in September,” prior to the demolition earlier this month.
But Linda Reinstein, the president of ADAO, said she has seen no public evidence to suggest that an assessment or abatement took place. Federal standards require rigorous inspections to be done prior to demolition, and those inspections are then documented with a certification. If asbestos is found, workers on site would be observed wearing protective equipment, like hazmat suits.
“I am deeply concerned for White House staff and others working in or near the East Wing demolition site,” Reinstein said. “It remains unclear what measures have been taken to ensure the safe removal of deadly asbestos and other hazardous materials.”
Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral that was commonly used in mid-century structures for fireproofing and insulation, before its deadly health risks were fully known. Invisible asbestos fibers can become airborne whenever materials containing asbestos are disturbed during demolition, renovation, or even routine maintenance.
Doctors warn that there is no safe level of asbestos exposure, and that even short, unprotected demolition work can damage the lungs and increase the risk of developing mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lungs. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, exposure to asbestos fibers can cause scarring in the lungs and increases the risk of mesothelioma and lung cancer.
Dr. Raja Flores, a top lung doctor, said it can take years after inhaling the fibers for symptoms to arise.
The progressive lung disease and cancer that can occur after asbestos exposure “makes you weak, you feel short of breath, feel like you’re drowning and all these symptoms develop over a long period of time,” Flores said. “It is a prolonged and agonizing torture.”
“You wouldn’t catch me in there — not without a mask” and “not without precautions,” Flores said, referring to the White House complex during demolition.
Although White House officials would not say whether asbestos existed in the building, some experts suggest that its age and the era of its construction mean that it likely had the presence of the fiber. Originally completed in 1800, the building underwent major renovations in the 1940s and 50s, at the peak of asbestos use in buildings.
Last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended President Donald Trump’s decision to demolish the East Wing, citing in part his assumption that “parts of the East Wing could have been asbestos, could have been mold.”
The demolition of the East Wing has been unpopular with most Americans, according to new polling released Thursday morning.
A 56% majority of Americans oppose the Trump administration tearing down the East Wing of the White House as part of the construction of a 90,000-square-foot ballroom paid for by $300 million in private donations, including 45% who “strongly” oppose it, according to an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll conducted using Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel.
President Trump said in July that the ballroom project would not interfere with the existing White House structure. But last week, as crews began to raze the East Wing, an official said the “entirety of the East Wing will be modernized.”
By Thursday, satellite images from Planet Labs PBC showed the East Wing reduced to rubble.
The White House has required at least some of the construction workers tasked with demolishing the East Wing to sign nondisclosure agreements barring them from discussing their work, according to sources familiar with the project.
A White House official told ABC News that requiring workers to sign NDAs is “standard” practice, given aspects of the project deal with the operational security of the White House.
Bob Sussman, who was the deputy EPA administrator under President Bill Clinton and a senior EPA policy counsel under President Barack Obama, said “the speed with which all this happened and the reasons why it happened so quickly should have raised many questions.”
Some environmental and health experts are warning about potential risks to the public if demolition debris that may contain asbestos is being moved off White House grounds without the appropriate safety measures.
“I am concerned that wherever they move this debris, the population in that area is going to be at risk for 20 to 30 years,” Dr. Flores said.
Markey’s letter seeks details from ACECO on the timeline of the demolition, the process it followed, what permits were sought, and whether any incidents were reported, and asks ACECO to respond by Nov. 12.
ABC News’ Jared Kofsky contributed to this report.
Margaryta Galych/Suspilne Ukraine/JSC “UA:PBC”/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
(LONDON) — Russia bombarded Ukrainian cities with 705 missiles and drones overnight into Thursday, according to Ukraine’s air force, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reporting strikes on civilian targets and energy infrastructure all across the country.
Russia launched 653 drones and 52 missiles of various types in its attack, Ukraine’s air force said. Of those, 592 drones and 31 missiles were shot down or otherwise suppressed, the air force said. Sixteen missiles and 63 drones impacted across 20 locations, the air force said.
Wednesday night’s attack was the second-largest Russian drone and missile barrage of the full-scale invasion to date, according to Ukrainian air force data analyzed by ABC News.
Only the bombardment of the night of Sept. 6 to 7 — in which Russia launched a combined total of 823 drones and missiles into Ukraine — was larger.
Zelenskyy said attacks were reported in the capital Kyiv and at least nine other Ukrainian regions, stretching from frontline areas in the southeast of the country to the border with Poland in the west.
“It was a complex, combined strike,” Zelenskyy said in a post to social media. At least two people were killed in a strike on a residential building in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, with “tens of people” injured, the president said.
“There have also been many vile strikes on energy facilities and civilian life across the regions,” Zelenskyy wrote. “All the necessary services are deployed on the sites. All efforts should be made to restore power and water supply as swiftly as possible wherever it’s been disrupted.”
“Russia continues its terrorist war against life itself, and it’s crucial that every such vile attack on civilians boomerangs back on Russia with concrete consequences — sanctions and real pressure,” Zelenskyy continued.
“We count on America, Europe, and the G7 countries not to ignore this,” he wrote. “New steps are needed to increase pressure — on Russia’s oil and gas industry, its financial system and through secondary sanctions on those who bankroll this war.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces shot down at least 173 Ukrainian drones overnight into Thursday. Nine were downed over the Moscow region, including six that were “heading to Moscow,” the ministry said.
(NEW YORK) — Sean “Diddy” Combs is asking a federal appeals court to expedite his appeal of his conviction on two prostitution-related charges, arguing he could finish his prison sentence before his appeal is heard on a normal timetable.
Combs is appealing his conviction and his more than four-year sentence.
“An expedited briefing and argument schedule is critical to ensure that Mr. Combs’s appeal of his sentence does not become moot while the appeal is pending,” defense attorney Alexandra Shapiro said in a new filing.
She said Combs has already served approximately 14 months of his 50-month sentence, and it is unclear how much additional time he will ultimately serve due to his potential eligibility for reductions.
Earlier this week, the Bureau of Prisons posted what the agency believes to be Combs’ release date from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, which is set for May 8, 2028 — although it can change.
Combs was convicted of two counts of transportation for the purposes of prostitution after an eight-week trial in July. The jury acquitted Combs of more serious sex trafficking and racketeering charges he faced.
In his appeal, Combs plans to argue to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that prosecutors misapplied the law.
“Sean’s appeal will challenge the unfair use of the Mann Act, an infamous statute with a sordid history, to prosecute him for sex with consenting adults,” Shapiro said.
He has said his counts of conviction should not apply because he had no financial motive for transporting male escorts. Instead he said he wanted to watch them have sex with his girlfriends.
